LoJack launches phone recovery service with the Samsung Galaxy S4 as its first supported device

by Macky Evangelista on May 23rd 2013, 1:20am
tagged Galaxy S4, lojack, Samsung, security, theft

LoJack, if you’re familiar with their software for computers and laptops, have made the jump into mobile device territory with the Samsung Galaxy S4 as their first supported device. With this software you’ll be able to trace, lock, and of course, remotely wipe your device if you choose to do so. Unlike other soft wares, LoJack stays in your phone no matter what you do to it, such as factory resetting the device. More importantly you’ll get LoJack’s experience with their years of success in the laptop and computer industry, so you know their representatives are highly trained to retrieve your device.

So far no date of the release has been set, but we expect it to be around this summer. Prices have yet to be confirmed but it should range depending on the longevity of your desired subscription. Hit up the break for the full press release!

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Smartphone sales in Q1 2013 great for Android, amasses whopping 75% of market share

by Harrison Kaminsky on May 14th 2013, 10:00am
tagged Android, galaxy s 4, iOS, iphone, Samsung

Android and iOS have been neck and neck battling for the title of “leading smartphone OS” for years now, but this month’s numbers don’t suggest a tight competition whatsoever. In the first quarter of 2013, Android-powered smartphones accounted for about 75% of all smartphones sold in this time-frame. Apple’s iOS came far behind, selling only 18.2% worth of the market share. Surprisingly the failing RIM (Blackberry) was able to outsell Microsoft’s Windows 8 Phones by 0.1%. It isn’t a big difference, but that’s definitely saying something about Microsoft’s success in the smartphone market.

Perhaps the most interesting of all this is that Android’s flagship for the year, the Samsung Galaxy S 4 hasn’t even been released yet. Android’s dominance over the market is expected to surpass that of 75% in Q2 2013. » Read the rest

Samsung’s 20nm 4Gb LPDDR3 Mobile DRAM now in production

by Robert Nazarian on Apr 30th 2013, 9:34am
tagged Samsung

Samsung just announced that they are going into production on their 4 gigabit (Gb) low power data rate 3 (LPDDR3) mobile DRAM. It’s produced at a 20 nanometer (nm) class data node. What does this mean? More speed and less power consumption, not to mention they are a little thinner. As to speed, the 4Gb LPDDR3 can transmit data up to 2,133Mbps as compared to 800Mbps on LPDDR2. You can basically transmit three full HD videos (total of 17GB) in one second over this new chip. You can also expect a savings of about 20% in power consumption.

“By providing the most efficient next-generation mobile memory with a very large data capacity, we are now enabling OEMs to introduce even more innovative designs in the marketplace,” said Young-Hyun Jun, executive vice president, memory sales & marketing, Samsung Electronics. “Our 20nm-class four gigabit mobile DRAM provides another example of our ability to deliver well-differentiated, high-performance, high-density memory to customers in a timely manner.”

Full presser after the break.

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Oh what a surprise: Apple’s Phil Shiller thinks Android phones are inferior to the iPhone

by Robert Nazarian on Mar 13th 2013, 8:28pm
tagged apple, iphone

So what do you do when your the Apple marketing chief and it’s the eve of the Samsung Galaxy S IV announcement? You do a little trash talking, but in this case Phil Shiller didn’t really go after Samsung, but instead went after Android as a whole. Where do we begin? He started off by saying that products that run the Android software are inferior to Apple’s iPhone. He went down the fragmentation path as he said that a lot of Android users are running old operating systems. In his defense, that is absolutely correct. Only about 15% of Android users are actually running Jelly Bean. In Android’s defense, I will say that most consumers aren’t all that concerned with that.

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Huawei Ascend G710 appears in leaked image, showcases its 5-inch, 720p display in the process

by Roy Alugbue on Feb 28th 2013, 7:49am
tagged 720p display, Ascend G710, huawei, leaks

There’s a reason why Huawei has become one of the world’s top smartphone manufacturers, despite surprisingly flying under the radar: it continues to introduce all sorts of smartphones for consumers. Notorious beans-spiller evleaks has revealed the Ascend G710 smartphone— an interesting device to say the least. It is not known exactly what will be featured inside the device— though we do know it will feature a 5-inch screen with a 720p resolution, capacative buttons at the bottom (sigh) and a pretty sexy metallic backing on the back of the device.

No word yet on when this bad boy will hit the market, but interested parties should probably keep their eyes and ears open with us as it will probably be available sooner than later.

source: evleaks
via: Engadget

EE confirms smartphone activations fall in Q4 2012, 4G LTE to blame?

by Roy Alugbue on Feb 19th 2013, 9:36am
tagged 4G LTE, EE

So we thought that EE’s launch of its super-fast LTE network would be welcome with open arms, but it appears there’s a slower adoption rate than expected. According to the 2012 year-end results from the wireless carrier, there were only 201,000 new subscribers for Q4, which is a mild disappointment to say the least. Fortunately, the wireless carrier was able to utilize its growing LTE network to springboard more of its customers into embracing smartphone use, which falls in line with some studies that we’ve heard before.

It’ll probably be a while before UK mobile users shy away from those HSPA+ networks until carriers like EE come up with a compelling reason for why LTE should be used. EE will certainly have its work cut out for it in the meantime.

source: EE

Latest Gartner report shows that mobile phone sales are down overall and Samsung still leads the pack, but Huawei may be primed for a major year

by Roy Alugbue on Feb 14th 2013, 9:52am
tagged apple, huawei, Samsung

It appears that there is some minor slowdown in regards to the overall growth of mobile phone sales. According to research firm Gartner Inc., worldwide mobile phone sales amounted to 1.75 billion total units for 2012 which was a solid number, but represented slightly disappointing 1.7 percent decline from 2011 sales. Moreover, while Q4 2012 smartphone sales saw record smartphone sales of 207.7 million total units, which was up 38.3 percent from the Q4 2011— the overall demand for feature phones remained weak throughout 2012. Gartner found that overall phone sales totaled 264.4 million units in Q4 2012, which was down 19.3 percent from Q4 2011 and even found that sales will continue to drop for 2013 as well.

Additionally, the latest Gartner report pretty much solidified what we already knew— Samsung and Apple are far and away the top manufacturers in all the land by owning a 52% market share– though there may be a surprising competitor lurking in the shadows. Samsung held steady as the world’s #1 smartphone by having 64.5 million units sold for Q4 2012, up a whopping 85.3% from Q4 2011; Samsung also sold 384.6 million mobile phones for 2012, 53.5% of which were accounted by smartphone sales. Something surprising that resulted from Q4 2012 is the rapid ascension of a new brand that is quickly becoming familiar with consumers. Huawei had a surprisingly solid Q4 2012 by selling 27.2 smartphones to mobile users— which represented a 73.8% increase from Q4 2011. Additionally, Gartner is predicting a major year for Huawei as they have some superphones on the way that will go directly at the likes of Samsung and Apple.

You’ll find complete details of Gartner’s latest study once you hit the source link below.

source: Gartner

ASUS Qube, a USB dongle with Google TV, shows up at the FCC

by Jared Peters on Nov 30th 2012, 11:46pm
tagged asus, fcc, google tv

Google TV hasn’t had the runaway success that Android has, but that hasn’t stopped Google and OEMs like Logitech from trying to turn it into something. According to some information leaked from the FCC, it appears that ASUS is next up on the list to try to get Google TV into living rooms.

The FCC has approved a new device called the “Qube” manufactured by ASUS that works similar to a Roku, but built into a small USB dongle, turning the host device into a full Google TV experience. Sounds kinda cool, right? On top of that, some remote apps in the Play Store also link to the Qube. The apps apparently aren’t working with other Google TV boxes, though. If this device turns out to be priced competitively, I could see it gaining steam where the other Google TV devices failed. Hit the break for the source and the Play Store apps. » Read the rest

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